The war against the traitorous Magic Council members had thrown Fiore into chaos. People were using the law's distraction to commit even more crimes. Likely they thought they would get away with it; that the Magic Council was too busy to deal with them. Well, they were wrong. Saigara Tenshou was handed the task of displacing the troublemakers that had settled in Kunugi village. Originally the task had been given to another Crusader member, his normal partner Evangel, but she had abruptly fallen ill. The task would be considerably harder now, but Saigara had no intention of forcing her in combat when she was at half-strength... and she had nearly collapsed mid-travel, so reinforcements weren't exactly an option when they were on the road. Saigara was still certain he could handle a few unorganized thieves.

The train came to a stop. Saigara was the only one to leave his particular car. It didn't exactly look like a popular place for tourists. The actual station was practically deserted, and the train quickly chugged away once the uniformed man had stepped out. Decked out in the traditional Magic Council uniform, everyone was going to know he was on the side of the Crusader justice. Hopefully it would also attract the bandits' attention – they couldn't very well ignore the law when it came into their presence. And if not, well, Saigara was fairly certain he could interrogate some ruffians for more information. Certainly a band of bandits wouldn't be exactly subtle about their movements.

As the saying goes, if you want to go to Kunugi Village, just follow the rails. It’s not a popular saying, per se. To be precise, it was the exact directions Crisis had been given on her way there. Nonetheless, it had been said, and Crisis followed them to the letter. And she arrived in the only way one could enter a dusty railway town that had been besieged by bandits: On a badass motorbike!

The motorcycle was as loud visually as it was audibly. Its head was molded to resemble a unicorn, with its head down and the horn pointed forward. It had the legs of one as well, on either side of each wheel. However, it might be more accurate to call it a pegasus, as it also sported a set of wings, albeit oriented upwards and unlikely to allow it to actually fly. All of these were chrome violet. Then there was the samurai-style banner, bearing Crisis’ standard, which appeared to be a black rose with a skull in it. It was all Lacrima-powered, of course. Crisis didn’t trust self-powered vehicles.

As much as Crisis would like to say she was just passing through, the truth was she had to go a bit out of her way. In the next town over she had heard that Kunugi Village had fallen to bandits. At first she was going to ignore it, but the idea dredged up bad memories. Memories that made her arm ache like an old wound before a storm. The comparisons to her past made her wonder if this could break her curse, make up for past sins. She doubted it, but it wasn’t enough to let sleeping dogs lie.

Crisis pulled up in front of the train station and came to a stop. She pulled off her helmet and replaced it with a black cowboy hat before taking a look at the town. She grimaced to herself, remembering that she had intended to park her bike some ways outside of town and sneak in quietly and scout out the town before making her move, but she had allowed her mind to wander and wound up driving all the way in. Probably drew a lot of attention to herself, too. Well, not much she could do about that now.

She got up off the bike and allowed her lavender poncho to drape over herself. The tavern was probably the best place to start. She wasn’t much for drinking, but it was a good place to gather information from.

Even when he was out of the train station, Kunugi village looked mainly deserted. There were a few stragglers dashing furtively about here and there, but Saigara quickly noticed that none were women or children. This place must've been in worse shape than the report said, if people were taking shelter in broad daylight. A loud noise interrupted his observations; Saigara turned to the source. A motorcycle pulled up to the other side of the train station. A ... woman? Saigara watched as she took off the helmet, yes clearly a woman. She didn't exactly look like she was from around these parts either. She didn't look particularly scared, either.

It was the only lead he had so far. Saigara quickened his pace to catch up to her, still quite a distance away... but did see the tavern she entered. For some reason he had a bad feeling. Maybe he was starting to wonder if he was in over his head. He really should have forced Evangel to come; if nothing else she could have acted as a distraction. No, he needed to think about the current situation, not what-ifs. His hand inserted into a pocket, feeling the different lacrima. For this mission in particular, he had spent a good portion of his salary to buy more. Expanding his own abilities would only benefit him in the future.

Taking a deep breath, he carefully steeled his face. Now was the time to act confident... if he didn't believe in himself, who would? With his resolve in place, he pushed the doors open forcefully. There were far more people inside the bar than outside. He gained the attention of a few eyes. Then more. And more. Until literally all eyes were on him, the chatter dying into silence. Crusaders were rarely seen outside their home or war zones these days... and understandably not welcome. Not to mention, he had no idea how many of these people were affiliated with the bandits. He didn't return any of the stares; ignored them completely and kept his gaze straight ahead... although one hand rested lightly on his sheathed sword.

Saigara took a seat next to Crisis. "Scotch on the rocks," he ordered, as if everything were perfectly natural. And also maybe it was a test to see what the bartender's response would be... considering Saigara was definitely younger than twenty-one, and probably looked closer to sixteen than his actual age. But he had the uniform. The universal sign of don't question me.

“Uhhh.... right!” The bartender seemed to jump out of his shock. Apparently he wasn't about to question the order, fumbling about for a glass and the drink in question.

“So what's your name?” Saigara half turned to Crisis, asking casually. There was still an undeniable edge to his voice though, it probably would have been there even without the current attention. What her name was didn't particularly matter, it did matter if she was going to comply or not... and also if just approaching her would invite trouble. The bartender slammed down the requested drink, before backing smartly away from the Crusader.

(Edit: talked with PatriotArrow and he said we should keep going for now, he'll enter in later)

Crisis entered the tavern more gracefully than she had entered town. The swinging doors seemed to slide almost noiselessly as she slipped through them, betrayed only by a slight creak from the unoiled hinges. Nonetheless, her presence drew attention as she strode up to the bar. She was an exotic beauty, for people with her darkened complexion were a rarity in these parts. They silently eyed her until she sat down, their gazes lingering for a while until the novelty wore off and their conversations resumed again. It was something she had gotten used to since leaving her homeland.

“What’ll it be?” the bartender asked.

“You serve food here?” Crisis inquired, tilting her hat up just enough for her emerald eyes to peak out from beneath the brim at him.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Bring me the cheapest grub you got,” she said. “And all the condiments.”

“Er… sure,” the bartender confirmed before heading off with the order.

Before long the room went silent again, this time as the doors were abruptly flung open. Crisis glowered slightly as she took in the uniform the young man was wearing. Magic Council. A tolerable presence at best, but from his brutish entrance and suspicious glare there was little reason to believe he wasn’t a Crusader. The phrase, “There goes the neighborhood,” passed through her mind, but since the village was already under the heel of bandits it would probably be a lateral move. Crisis couldn’t be sure of their protocols, but given their reputation she wouldn’t be surprised if they declared martial law after clearing out the bandits. She tilted her hat down sharply as he sat down next to her.

The bartender brought Crisis her order, then turned to the young man. He seemed shocked for a moment that such a young man - an official, at that! - would order such a strong drink, but complied nonetheless. Crisis was a tad off-put as well, but tried not to show it. It was mostly her aversion to alcohol in general, but he definitely didn’t look old enough to drink. Then again, she recently encountered someone who looked about eighteen but claimed to be four and a half, so what did she know?

The young Crusader then demanded Crisis’ name. Well, not really demanded. He was trying to act casual, but there was an edge to his voice. He was testing her, likely trying to determine if she was friend or foe. Understandable, considering the situation. He was alone as far as she could tell, and she was obviously a foreigner and there was a good chance she was, at the very least, not with the bandits. On top of that, unless he was hiding his power level really well, his magical power was lower than hers. Taking on the entire bandit regime wasn’t exactly going to be a walk in the park for him and, unfortunately, Crisis could sympathize.

“Nile,” Crisis said as she began idly smothering her food in ketchup. She didn’t feel like giving her real name to the man, and would prefer to not have it associated with Crusaders. She was pretty sure it wouldn’t matter to him anyway. “Deirdre Nile. But everyone calls me ‘Dee’. I’d ask what brings you here, but being Magic Council I think I can safely assume why.” She set down the ketchup and started adding mustard. “You people don’t have the best of reputations as of late. Your quest is noble, young man, but are you here to bring justice…” She set down the mustard and began adding relish. “...Or order?”

Nile was an odd name, until ‘Dee’ gave out full name and a nickname. It was far too convincing for Saigara to even suspect it was false, for now being content that the other had given out said demanded name. If anything he actually preferred her answer, he hated both being defied and being patronized. He was listening to her carefully, but the way she poured ketchup all over her food… his eyes kept darting between what she was doing, and her face. His own drink remained completely untouched; he actually wasn’t planning to take any… just in case it was spiked. Saigara was overcautious, but given the situation, he didn’t need any alcohol anyway.

Still, she was making fun of him to some degree. The Crusader’s motives had been questioned by more than one, their very name implying a Holy war. “You say that like there’s some extreme difference between justice and order,” he glared at her levelly. “While not exactly the same, the two go hand in hand. You cannot have justice without first having order. After all, it is the law that decides actions deemed noble and others deemed villainous.” He noticeably tensed as Crisis grabbed the mustard and began the same process as with her previous condiment. For now it was taking a lot of focus just to ignore it. “You say that you already suspect the reason of my presence – should I assume that you are playing an active role in the latest events here?” It might have sounded accusing, if his concentration wasn’t completely broken when Crisis picked up the relish.

He couldn’t take this any more. “Wh-wh-what are you doing?” He was honestly horrified at how she was treating her food. Did she seriously intend to eat that? That seemed like something one would do to torture an enemy. Certainly she couldn’t be planning to eat her food smothered in condiments.

“That’s a good question,” “Dee” replied as she put down the relish and started sprinkling hot sauce all over the dish. From how her attention was squarely on Saigara and not remotely on her own actions, she had likely misunderstood the question. “What are any of us doing here? I don’t consider myself to be following any sort of agenda, although I’m not sure I could say my reasons for being here are completely altruistic. I’m here for personal reasons, but I’m confident what I’m doing is the right thing, as I’m sure you are.”

Almost as if acting of their accord, her hands moved on to slathering mayonnaise on top of the concoction brewing before her. “And while I’m not sure I can effectively argue that one could have justice without order, the reverse is most definitely true. Laws are written by those in power, and those with power are not always noble.” She set down the mayo and began adding vinegar. “They write laws not to protect their people, but themselves or their ideals, to silence detractors and stifle opposition. Order without justice is oppression.”

She exhale as she turned back to her dish, setting down the vinegar. “Anyway, to answer your question, I have yet to play a part here before today, but I intend to soon. I can’t just leave things here the way they are.” She scooped up some mint jelly and applied it to her meal as well.

Saigara slammed his hands down against the counter, jumping to his feet. The counter shook beneath the impact, the ice in his drink rattling loudly. “That’s enough. I cannot idly abide this any longer,” he snapped at her. Accusingly he pointed to her plate, a mess of condiments that didn’t go together on top of food that deserved better. Yes it was not her words, but her actions that had completely derailed him. She might have been speaking philosophically, but who could pay attention to ‘wisdom’ when her actions were completely counterintuitive.

“Did your parents forget to teach you to never play with your food? Your concoction is the vilest monstrosity I have ever laid eyes upon, an affront to all eyes and taste buds! You cannot possibly tell me you intend to eat such a disheveled mess!” He crossed his arms and glared sternly at her, completely immune to just about anyone else whose attention he had gained. “How in the world could someone who lacks proper discipline and taste buds with mere food even pretend to comprehend the notions of justice and order!” Okay, maybe those two concepts had nothing in common, but he was in the heat of the moment. The sudden outburst had given him a surprising amount of courage, certainly a great deal more than what he had initially entering.

“Saigara Tenshou,” he introduced himself. One hand dramatically clasped his uniformed chest, as he glared down at the seated ‘Dee’. “Remember it well, for I shall be the one to bring order back to Kunugi, and with it justice. I don’t care of history makes me a hero or villain because of it.” He grit his teeth, gaze upon her horrible creation. “Order in all things.”

“Dee” was so startled by the ferocity of Saigara’s objection that her hat nearly flew from her head. At first she just smirked at him, but it quickly turned to a frown as it became clear he was talking about her food. Admittedly, she was only half aware she was doing it. It was such a force of habit with her that she couldn’t even remember what condiments she had put on it already. And, yeah, it looked gross and tasted funny, but it had gotten to the point that food just tastes bland until she adds something to it. She was used to the odd looks and occasional jibes, but sheer about of bile the Crusader was spewing was starting to get under her skin.

She was silent for a moment.

“You can question my upbringing,” she said. “You can mock my discipline and cast aspersions on my concept of justice.” She slammed her fist on the counter and glared up at Saigara. “But you do not insult a woman’s cooking!”

Okay, so obviously she did cook the meal she had been dressing at all, but with the sheer amount of condiments she put on it one could said she had a hand in its preparation. It may be a stretch, but it still sounds better than “Insult my personal dining habits.” Indeed, it did start to feel personal, or maybe it was just that she didn’t like the Crusaders and was looking for a reason to snap at Saigara.

“Hear me well, Saigara Tenshou,” she said as she rose to her feet. Still a good half a foot shorter than him, she climbed onto her stool in an attempt to tower over him. “I’ll be the one to send those bandits packing, or my name isn’t…” She pointed dramatically in the direction she was facing. “... Deirdre Nile, Attorney at Law!”

She said it and immediately regretted it. She had absolutely no idea where she got “Attorney at Law” from, but it came out as soon as she thought of it. It just rolls off the tongue so well! Who could deny such a declaration!?

Okay, she was just making fun of him now. Saigara glared at her skeptically when 'Dee' insisted he not insult a woman's cooking. She hadn't been the one to cook that! Or did she know the owners... did it even matter? He became certain of her jest when she declared herself an attorney of law. There was no chance he'd believe her to be an agent of the law. Cooly he regarded her, seeming to contain himself after his last outburst. This was unlike him. Certainly Dee's repulsive matters were ones he could not completely overlook, but there were times for such things. He blamed his earlier reservations about entering alone; it had been him on edge. And made a mental note to never do it again. This was going to bother him for days to come, mistakes could not be made carelessly.

Talking with her was a waste of time. Despite her foreign appearance, she clearly wasn't with the bandits. He was about to say as much, when a fist slammed down on a nearby table. "It must be nice, havin' so few problems you can make a big deal out of the small ones," a grey-haired man with an eyepatch growled lowly. He rose, along with some others scattered about the tables. All unsheathed swords or guns, a few even snickering quietly. "So a lone Council dog and stray cowgirl think they can waltz in here like they can solve the world's problems? Think again. Girl, you'd best take back your words or I might make it a point to prove ya wrong."

Saigara recognized the one speaking from the reports... the leader of the bunch, a man by the name of Deadeye. Also like the reports, Deadeye had at least a score of men - too many for Saigara to gauge with complete accuracy. "...Well then, Deidre Nile, Attorny at Law," he used the name and title mockingly. "If you meant what you said earlier, I propose a challenge. Whoever defeats more of the bandits shall be the victor." The truth was, he knew he probably couldn't handle this alone. If turning this into a competition helped to liberate the town, he would do so. However, he had no intention of losing the challenge, either...

Crisis hopped down from her perch. This wasn’t going how she planned. Granted, the plan had been constructed the moment Saigara stepped into the bar. Years of espionage work and hunting dark guilds gave her something of a knack for identifying unsavory elements. Such elements were fairly predictable, and Crisis liked to joke that she could predict their names with 98.687% accuracy. It was closer to 84.396%, and when she got them right it baffled them every time. As such she had made Deadeye the moment she entered the room, and was fairly certain his goons made up at least the majority of the occupants. Bandits were a danger to be around, their leader even more so. By the time they’re sitting around the place, chatting away casually, the only civilians left in the bar should be a few unlucky stragglers and the beleaguered wait staff. Unless the village was full of bandit sympathizers, in which case the situation was far more complicated than she thought or preferred.

The original plan, such as it was, was to incapacitate Saigara and deliver him to Deadeye, then somehow finagling that a private audience with him in order to take him down without having to deal with all the mooks first. Of course, that all went down the drain when she stood up and declared her intention to clear out the bandits, or at least made things more difficult. It was a probably a bad plan anyway.

She eyed Saigara sidelong as he suggested his competition and considered trying the plan anyway.

Crisis picked up her plate and took a bite of the, for a lack of better word, food. “So, what? Just quantity over quality? Or do we get bonus points taking out Deadeye and his lieutenants?” She took another and began gesturing around. “‘Cause I’m thinking one hundred points for the goons, two hundred for the stooges, and three hundred for ol’ greybeard here. But if a civvie gets hurt, that’s negative two hundred points. Bonus points if the bad guys get thrown through or stuck on something, but the windows only count when you break the glass.”